US reports September milk production slump

The US Department of Agriculture has published the latest Dairy Products report, showing slumps throughout nearly all sectors of US milk production.

The production of edible non-fat dry milk in September slumped by 10% to 103 million lbs from the previous month and was down 5% year-on-year.

Skimmed milk production stood at 35 million lbs, down 8% from August, but registered an increase of 104% from the same period last year.

Dry whey production was 77 million lbs, down 3% from the previous month and down 1% year-on-year, while the production of lactose was 83 million lbs, a marginal increase from August figures and up 6% from September 2010.

Whey protein concentrate production was 35 million lbs, up marginally from August and down 1% compared to the previous year.

Butter production was 137 million lbs, up 4% from August and 21% year-on-year, while total cheese production was 867 million lbs, down from August levels and down 1% in 2010.

Production of regular hard ice cream stood at 67 million gallons, down 13% from August and 7% from September last year, while low-fat ice cream production totalled 33 million gallons, down 16% from the previous month and up 3% year-on-year.